OK, gentle readers, I know you all get a little anxious when Podunk goes on location, and in some cases, for damned good reason. Sometimes shit goes wrong in my travels. This time, when I made arrangements last September to visit Asheville, North Carolina in February, the area was unexpectedly struck by Hurricane Helene moments after I booked our lodging. The devastation caused by the hurricane and subsequent flooding was unimaginable. More than 100 people perished in the disaster and the vibrant communities of western NC were in survival mode for weeks and even months as safe drinking water, electricity and transportation routes became scarce or non-existent.

The original driver behind the visit was a series of six Billy Strings concerts slated for Asheville in February. Last October, the bluegrass virtuoso helped raise more than $20 million for the area in the Concert for Carolina and businesses suffering from the hurricane’s impact welcomed the artist and his following to Asheville’s Harrah’s Cherokee Center in February. Iron Chef and I and our travel buddies were hesitant to descend upon a community recovering from disaster as we pursued entertainment. As we researched ways we could be of value to the community, the resounding answer was “come here and spend your money.” I knew without doubt I could rise to this challenge.

The following dispatch is intended to honor the courageous people of western North Carolina and to encourage you, gentle reader, to visit there and spend like there is no tomorrow. And I am not just trolling for sponsors, Chase Sapphire Credit Card.

Billy. The first thing people ask is whether going to six Billy Strings shows within the course of 10 days was a good idea. The answer is a resounding Hell Yeah. I will not pretend to be a music critic, but every show left me in awe of these musicians’ talent, creativity and energy. I was also left maimed. The fervor of Billy Strings fandom requires that one stand in line many, many hours on the pavement before rushing to stand on the concrete floor in front of the stage until your feet bleed. I spent each intermission standing in the very long beer and Starburst line hallucinating about how cool it would be if my comfy river shoes could be a bit more splashy. Another pain and beer-infused fantasy was “what if the venue offered a premiere row of inversion tables for zero gravity viewing?” The idea of watching Billy Strings whilst hanging upside down batlike, zero pressure on my tootsies, captivated me. Would the younger, more twirly concert goers respond to these innovations with as much enthusiasm? I prefer to think so.

BBQ. Technically, we were staying in Woodfin, NC, and just downhill from our lodging awaited Iron and Oak BBQ. Yes the ribs were divine, indeed the brisket melted in your mouth, tru dat the chile was crowded with brisket pieces, please and thank you mashed potatoes and gravy….but Iron and Oak’s pièce de résistance was the pork pimento sandwich. At first glance, the pork looked like a traditional sausage patty. But upon further chewy inspection, the patty consisted of pork rib meet pressed together and possibly held in place by pimento cheese, topped with cole slaw on a pillowy brioche bun. Stop the madness.

Little Pigs had me at hush puppy. Little Pigs has been locally owned and operated at this modest McDowell Street location since 1963. The food is good, reasonable, and fast. Plus hush puppies.

Beer. Asheville loves their breweries, and now I do, too. We couldn’t visit all of the city’s breweries so we tried to narrow it down using the discerning filters of a) those we encountered that were open, and b) had beer to sell.

Over the course of two Billy Strings weekends we managed to visit Burial Brewing (both the Forestry Camp and South Slope locations), the impressive Sierra Nevada Mill Creek campus, Dssolvr (I tried my first ever PB&J cheesecake sour beer), Twin Leaf, Riverside Rhapsody, and Hi-Wire. As far as I can tell, no one is making bad beer in Asheville.

I’m giving Asheville a hot minute to recover, giving my own groupie-weary arches and our credit card a chance to recover, and then I’m ready to return. The mountain biking is said to be excellent in western NC, and we barely scratched the surface of the art scene. And I highly doubt that I can resist the gravitational pull of that damned Pork Pimento Cheese sammie for long.

Be well, Asheville, and I’ll see you soon!